CAIRO, 23 February 2004 — Lebanese Foreign Minister Jean Obeid said yesterday the United States cannot "export democratic regimes" to the Middle East, criticizing a US reform plan for the region.
Obeid, speaking to reporters in Cairo after meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, said they had discussed the US plan, the situation in the Middle East and Iraq.
"It is impossible to export prefabricated democratic regimes to the Middle East, and democracy springs from popular culture - if not, it would not be a healthy democracy," Obeid said. "We cannot undertake reforms to please a certain party or forgo reforms for fear of another party," he added.
Moreover, the chief Lebanese diplomat said, the broad US plan "includes no mention of an overall and just solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict and we cannot accept such a plan". Obeid's remarks followed a series of criticisms, by Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and other Arab leaders, of an international plan formulated by the United States to foster greater democracy and economic growth.
